Reviewing My Week 9 Picks

There were definitely some marquee games this week, but not all of them lived up to the hype. The Cowboys were absolutely dismantled by the Giants in their rematch of last year's playoff game. The Redskins were destroyed at home by a Pittsburgh defense that was relentless in its pursuit of Jason Campbell. The one big game that did turn out to be close was New England at Indianapolis, where the Colts held on to edge out the Patriots 18-15. Outside of those games, Cincinnati picked up its first win and the Jets went into Buffalo and pulled out a big win the AFC East.

I struggled again this week, going 6-9. The past two weeks I've really done a bad job and now my overall record reflects it. I'm currently 12 games under .500 now and I need to rally in order to get back into the black. That said, I challenge you to pick every game against the spread every week and we'll see how you do. It's much harder than it looks.

This Week: 6-9

Season: 56-68-3

Week 9 Picks Are In BOLD

Houston Texans at Minnesota Vikings (-5)

Final Score: Texans 21 - Vikings 28 (Win)

Minnesota was up 14 at halftime and had to score a 4th quarter touchdown to secure the win. Sage Rosenfels filled in admirably, throwing only 8 incompletions on his way to 224 yards passing, 133 yards of which went to tight end Owen Daniels. Frerotte managed the game for Minnesota who got 139 yards from Adrian Peterson.

Jacksonville Jaguars at Cincinnati Bengals (+8)

Final Score: Jaguars 19 - Bengals 21 (Loss)

I'm officially off the Jacksonville bandwagon. They've let me down too many times this year and they're not the team they were last year. They can't run the ball the way they have the past few seasons and the whole team is struggling because of it.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Kansas City Chiefs (+9)

Final Score: Buccaneers 30 - Chiefs 27 (Loss)

This game was horrible on a number of levels. One, it's horrible because I lost. Two, Tampa Bay snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. The Saints really would have benefited from Tampa Bay losing, but the Chiefs are so bad that they can't do anything right nowadays.

Baltimore Ravens at Cleveland Browns (-1.5)

Final Score: Ravens 37 - Browns 27 (Win)

I've said multiple times in this space that I'm not a fan of the Browns. I think last year was a fluke and once again they get trampled by an opponent. This game may have been closer had Braylon Edwards not dropped passes and had Derek Anderson not given Baltimore a touchdown on an interception return, but that's the difference between good teams and bad teams.

New York Jets at Buffalo Bills (-5.5)

Final Score: Jets 26 - Bills 17 (Loss)

I didn't see this one coming. I haven't been a huge fan of the Jets this season and I've just recently hopped on the Bills bandwagon. That turned out well for me. Buffalo was totally outplayed on their own field and the Jets walked away with a huge victory in the AFC East.

Arizona Cardinals at St.Louis Rams (+3)

Final Score: Cardinals 34 - Rams 13 (Win)

I didn't think 3 points was enough to justify picking the Rams. Sure, they've played better since Haslett took over but this is still the same team that was horrible to start the season. The Cardinals got 109 yards rushing out of Tim Hightower and Warner threw for 342 yards as the Cardinals rolled the Rams.

Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears (-13)

Final Score: Lions 23 - Bears 27 (Loss)

I figured the Bears would score around 27 points, but I had no clue that Detroit could find a way to score 23 points. The Lions have been horrible in ever sense of the word and I figured taking the Bears and giving up almost 2 touchdowns wasn't too big of a deal. I was wrong.

Green Bay Packers at Tennessee Titans (-4.5)

Final Score: Packers 16 - Titans 19 (Loss)

Classic example of knowing how a game would play out but missing it by a point or two. I knew it would be close and I was fairly confident that the Titans would pull it out, but I thought they could win by a touchdown or a couple of field goals. I should have taken the points but I decided against it. Incorrectly.

Miami Dolphins at Denver Broncos (-3.5)

Final Score: Dolphins 26 - Broncos 17 (Loss)

I knew Miami would be able to put up some points against the mediocre Denver defense, but I still thought the Bronco offense would be able to score more than 17 points. Denver is a classic example of a team that explodes onto the scene early and then fades as the season goes on.

Atlanta Falcons at Oakland Raiders (+3)

Final Score: Falcons 24 - Oakland 0 (Win)

Very simple. Atlanta is a good football team. Oakland is a horrible football team. The line was only 3. I wish they were all this easy.

Dallas Cowboys at New York Giants (-9)

Final Score: Cowboys 14 - Giants 35 (Loss)

One day I'm going to stop betting on the Cowboys. One day I'm going to stop betting against the Giants. I'll be too late, though.

There's no way I could have bet on the Colts. I don't think they're the better team and I wasn't giving up a touchdown for home-field advantage. This was an easy bet in my opinion. Take the better team and the points and hope that they can keep it close. That's exactly what happened.

Pittsburgh Steelers at Washington Redskins (-2)

Final Score: Steelers 23 - Redskins 6 (Loss)

This one wasn't even close. When the Redskins had two chances to score early and only wound up with 6 points I knew it was over. The Steelers are a good football team and they don't go down easily. I took Washington because I thought they'd do a better job of protecting Jason Campbell and I thought they could pull out the victory at home on a Monday night.